Indigenous Indigenous Storytelling Literature Circle In the past, when teaching my students about Indigenous perspectives, I have often taken an approach that focuses on human rights. We spend time learning about colonialism in Canada and focus on texts
Indigenous Graphic Novels and Indigenous Rights Every year I try to improve how I include Indigenous voices and perspectives in my classroom. A unit I developed this year was a mini-literature circle that focused on graphic novels by Indigenous
Literature Circle Piecing Me Together Piecing Me Together, by Renée Watson, is a young adult novel that examines issues of race, privilege and identity for a teen girl from a poor neighbourhood. Jade, the book's main character, is
Education Repeating the Mistakes of Underground to Canada: Examining my own Biases While I was in middle school, I only read one novel with Black characters for language arts class: Underground to Canada. This novel told the story of four Black people escaping from slavery
Environment The Failings of Climate Change Fiction Young adult and middle grade fiction are useful tools for teaching about tough issues. Problems like the refugee crisis or poverty are difficult and stories are important to help us better understand these
Identity Identity Literature Circle Earlier this year, I decided to develop another literature circle for my grade seven classroom. I currently teach two literature circles that focus on the themes of human rights and heroic journeys respectively.
Courage Heroic Journey Lit Circle Overview I have written a number of entries that analyze specific books from my Heroic Journey Literature Circle unit. To sum it all up, here is an overview of the unit, along with my
Courage The Power of Visual Texts Visual texts are great jumping off points for discussion and reflection during literature circles. Since students are reading a variety of books, it is useful to have common texts to help anchor the
Courage When a Book Fails Not every book is going to be a winner and not every story will grab hold of a reader's attention. Back when I used to teach whole class novels, this used to be
Courage Nimona: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 4 One of my favourite books in our heroic journey literature circle is the graphic novel Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson. Originally created as a webcomic, the graphic novel focuses on Nimona, the shape shifting
Courage Peak: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 3 The third book in our heroic journey literature circle is Peak, by Roland Smith. Peak is about a boy of the same name, who is initially arrested for scaling skyscrapers. To avoid jail
Courage Devil's Pass: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 2 In our Heroic Journey literature circle, another book that students enjoy is Devil's Pass, by Sigmund Brouwer. It tells the story of Webb, a teen who is struggling with an abusive stepfather. After
Courage How To Be A Hero This week, my grade seven classes started our Heroic Journey literature circle unit. During this unit, students will discuss what it means to be a hero and analyse books using the heroic journey
Identity Posted by John David Anderson Over the last two months, I have been toying with the idea of building a new literature circle for my class based on the theme of identity. As I investigated texts, a second
Indigenous He Who Dreams - The Importance of High Interest Books For years, when I taught whole class novels I often felt stuck when it came to supporting struggling readers. Asking them to independently read a text that was beyond their current abilities clearly
LGBTQ Lily and Dunkin Recently, I started hunting for novels for an identity themed literature circle. Lily and Dunkin, by Donna Gephart, was a recurring suggestion. The book has been on my list for a while, so
Human Rights Human Rights Literature Circles I love teaching grade seven students. At twelve and thirteen years old, my students are old enough to start delving into real world issues in more detail than their elementary school counterparts. As